This invention relates generally to the field of data communications and more particularly to a method for minimizing an amount of data communicated from a source device to a destination device in order to modify electronic files stored at said destination.
Modern business practices rely heavily upon the transmission and reception of electronic messages. Such messages, may include, for example, letters, memoranda, reports, electronic mail messages, graphic images, video clips, audio messages, spreadsheet information and any multimedia combinations thereof. All of the above message types shall hereinafter be generally referred to as electronic documents or simply documents. As is known in the art, these electronic documents are typically created by and stored within computer based devices such as, for example personal computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like. When the computer based devices are interconnected via a communications network, electronic documents may be communicated to individuals who are connected to the network (i.e., individuals having computer hardware capable of communicating over the network in question). It is anticipated that a document source device, as well as a destination devices may comprise portable or mobile devices that communicate via wireless communications networks such as, for example radio frequency (RF) and/or infrared (IR) communication systems.
As individuals transmit, receive, write to and otherwise annotate comments and/or modifications to the said document, thus creating an edited version thereof, it is often desirable that the edited version be communicated back to the source and to other devices on the network such that other individuals can have access.
When the communications network employs wireless technologies such as, for example, radio frequency (RF) and/or infrared (IR) transmissions, spectral efficiency and bandwidth limitations suggest minimizing the amount of data communicated back to the source or to a destination having a stored version of the said document, in order to effectuate the necessary changes. Therefore a need exists to be able to communicate a least amount of data between source and destination devices and necessary to effectuate the generation of an edited version of a document. As the throughput of wireline systems approaches the available capacity, the need to minimize the amount of data sent in order to effectuate an edited version at a destination device will likewise take on greater importance.